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PS4 developers tell us what makes the system stand out

We asked a few PS4 game makers what Sony's new console brings to the table.

We've said it before and we'll say it again. The only thing that really matters when a new console comes out is the answer to the following question: what kinds of gaming experiences can the new consoles create that weren't possible on existing consoles? That's exactly what we asked a number of PS4 developers when we had a chance to meet with them (and play their games) at a recent preview event.

Their answers highlighted not just the system's increased hardware power and social sharing features but also more behind-the-scenes factors relating to Sony's support for the system and its developers (especially if those developers are independent). The ease of developing on the PS4 kept coming up, as did Sony's outreach to really help get new, interesting games onto the platform.

Don't take our word for it, though. Hear the responses straight from the developers' mouths in these video clips.

1001 Spikes developer Tyrone Rodriguez talks about why his low-resolution game actually needs the power of the PS4.

Contrast developer Guillame Provost talks about how much easier the PS4 development process was compared to the PS3.

Doki Doki Universe producer Alex Lee says that the PS4's power comes to bear even on simplistic graphics like those in his game.

Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes Director Hideo Kojima says the PS4 has enabled features he's been dreaming about for the series for decades.

Promoted Comments

Quick summary/paraphrasing/my impression of what everyone said for those at work. Paragraphs are in order of their appearance:

Sony is really trying to make a difference on the types of games that players have access to. Only obstacle in terms of getting it on Sony’s platform is the developer themselves in his experience. Worked on most major platforms for the past 5-7 years. Easy to transport code from VITA to PS4. That being said, if they have Vita experience, they have PS4 experience.

A lot smoother to developer. Sony has been well prepared. Well documented dev kits in English. His analogy of working on a launch title is that working on a launch title is like filming a movie while the camera is still being built. Not that way in the PS4. Got a build of his game running on the platform in 5 weeks. Architecture plays a part in the fast development time, but a larger part is the development tools. Also mentioned that the development environment is very stable.

Easier to keep the user in the experience because the extra power allows for a smoother experience (over the previous generation). Sounds like there are a lot of improvements within the development environment itself and in reaching out to Sony that allow the developer to get things done faster.

Developed on high spec PCs. Game is still very much a stealth game. Previous game MGS games transitioned usually from a closed area then would open up, then close again. With the extra power, its possible to transition from one open area to the next. (Backing up a bit, the game sounds likes its designed in that you choose which missions you undertake (similar to Peace walker) then the mission starts in an open world fashion around that area. This is something he had envisioned previously, but couldn’t do because of the limitations of the hardware.)

More power. More lighting and characters. Really digs the recording feature in terms of competitive showing off (like on the PC) and sharing those “Did you see that?!!?” moments.

Much easier to get the hardware and documentation. Really likes the social elements. Because of the multiplayer aspect of the game, the social aspect works really well in its favor. The extra power allows to “abuse physics and destructible more”.

Over the last generation, it was “tremendously easier to develop for”. The witness was supposed to be a shorter development cycle game. Once it became obvious that it was going to take a long time, they looked to target next gen. Impression I got from Blow was that PS3 vs PS4 development was night and day.

19 posts | registered Aug 9, 2011

Kyle Orland
Kyle is the Senior Gaming Editor at Ars Technica, specializing in video game hardware and software. He has journalism and computer science degrees from University of Maryland. He is based in the Washington, DC area. Emailkyle.orland@arstechnica.com//Twitter@KyleOrl

You interviewed developers at a PR event, they had good things to say about the product they were being compensated to say good things about, and you posted those videos without any analysis whatsoever?

That's great journalism, Ars. Can't wait for the follow-up article, where you just repost an Xbox One press release.

Andrew usually writes great articles, but in that case, I think he was trying so hard to avoid offending people, that he might have offended the people looking for an in-depth hardware comparison. Anyway, thanks for putting this together, very insightful.

I'm glad to see the Tiny Brains developers getting more press. I met them at the Montreal Comic-con and they were really cool guys. Also, the game was a hell of a lot of fun to play, even in a beta state at the time. It's just too bad that the game is getting delayed a week or two, as it was a day one purchase for me before!.

"The only thing that really matters when a new console comes out is the answer to the following question: what kinds of gaming experiences can the new consoles create that weren't possible on existing consoles?"

Well this is the first time i see a very well definition behind the reasoning for next gen consoles, probably without intention, but it is very spot on IMHO. To be precisely the notion that should be established prior determinating what it is a next gen machine. Certainly the increase in graphics, fit very well this definition, jumping for resolution to newer resolutions not available before.But it also expands to other factors as well that were not seen or have been available before, like instant sharing on the social networks, the instant recording of game sessions, the ability to navigate in new ways the OS, menus, etc.

Thats why even the two consoles that are/were not consider next gen like the Wii and WiiU are also next gen, motion controls, assymetrical multiplayer and the ability of jumping the game from the TV to the controller in an instant, without any major hustle, really can be consider next gen.

Andrew usually writes great articles, but in that case, I think he was trying so hard to avoid offending people, that he might have offended the people looking for an in-depth hardware comparison. Anyway, thanks for putting this together, very insightful.

I agree, that article was just so poorly done. Way below the standards that I typically have for reviews on this site.

It's just a PR fluffy piece... PS3 developers said how awesome the Cell was, even as they were pulling-out their hair trying to develop for it effectively.

Since this is a Tech Site (sometimes), I'm sure that lots of peeps here would love to hear from a develop (probably an anonymous one) who works with both the PS4 and the XboxOne to see the comparative pros and cons, both in regards to cross-platform development and for exclusives which can be aggressively optimized for a given platform.

I'm having trouble getting a solid answer on this question: Are the next gen consoles being developed as pure 64-bit systems? I see both PS4 and XBO have CPUs which have the 64-bit instruction sets. . . but that doesn't necessarily mean the OS and games will be 64-bit. However, I also note that both systems have 8GB of RAM, which strongly suggests that they are 64-bit systems (I believe 32-bit OSes would be limited to 4G of RAM?)

I'm looking forward to a new generation of 64-bit games, hopefully. I don't know that I will buy either of these consoles - I've got a pretty decent gaming PC - but right now, games for the PC are basically constrained by the consoles. 32-bit consoles has meant no 64-bit games.

Why do I care about the bitness? Well, mostly, I think that games that can use more than about 2G of RAM will allow developers to think about creating bigger worlds/maps/zones/levels. Think about games like Skyrim - you enter a city, and you always have to load into a seperate zone just for the city, so the game can unload all the data for stuff outside the city. This in turn means that, for example, Morrowind had flight and jumping spells, which were removed from Oblivion and Skyrim, because those spells are not compatible with a city which has to be entered through a "door" in order to trigger the zone change logic.

Giant, open, seemless worlds - that's what I see being possible with more than 2G of RAM. Perhaps I'm wrong though - maybe the computational power still isn't there, even if you have plenty of RAM.

I'm having trouble getting a solid answer on this question: Are the next gen consoles being developed as pure 64-bit systems? I see both PS4 and XBO have CPUs which have the 64-bit instruction sets. . . but that doesn't necessarily mean the OS and games will be 64-bit. However, I also note that both systems have 8GB of RAM, which strongly suggests that they are 64-bit systems (I believe 32-bit OSes would be limited to 4G of RAM?)

I'm looking forward to a new generation of 64-bit games, hopefully. I don't know that I will buy either of these consoles - I've got a pretty decent gaming PC - but right now, games for the PC are basically constrained by the consoles. 32-bit consoles has meant no 64-bit games.

Why do I care about the bitness? Well, mostly, I think that games that can use more than about 2G of RAM will allow developers to think about creating bigger worlds/maps/zones/levels. Think about games like Skyrim - you enter a city, and you always have to load into a seperate zone just for the city, so the game can unload all the data for stuff outside the city. This in turn means that, for example, Morrowind had flight and jumping spells, which were removed from Oblivion and Skyrim, because those spells are not compatible with a city which has to be entered through a "door" in order to trigger the zone change logic.

Giant, open, seemless worlds - that's what I see being possible with more than 2G of RAM. Perhaps I'm wrong though - maybe the computational power still isn't there, even if you have plenty of RAM.

OS's are 64bit, as required for having 8GB of memory. Games however will be both. I am sure plenty of smaller indy games will be 32bit, as will games made for older and newer consoles.

BF4 on PC is 64bit only, and most likely is on PS4/XBone, as its RAM hungry. I am sure the same will go for most AAA games.

OS's are 64bit, as required for having 8GB of memory. Games however will be both. I am sure plenty of smaller indy games will be 32bit, as will games made for older and newer consoles.

Right, I was mainly looking to see if 64-bit games would be *possible*. Smaller games that don't need 64-bit still being done as 32-bit doesn't seem like a problem - I have Win7-64bit on my home computer - but most of the apps are 32-bit.

Anyhow, thanks for the info. I was hoping the next gen consoles would be 64-bit capable, so we can start to see 64-bit games. I've not really played the BattleField series, so didn't know that was a 64-bit title.

I can't imagine how frustrated someone like Seamus Blackley is that the original Xbox's whole design philosophy has been copied by Sony and now all of a sudden it's so revolutionary. As long as we end up with better games it's a good thing, but I can't imagine how much better the 360 and PS3 would've been if that emphasis had driven their design as well. They'd be more powerful, devs would be doing more with the hardware, PC ports wouldn't have been held back as much, publishers would be making more money because games would be cheaper to make...

Andrew usually writes great articles, but in that case, I think he was trying so hard to avoid offending people, that he might have offended the people looking for an in-depth hardware comparison. Anyway, thanks for putting this together, very insightful.

In fairness, the hardware differences aren't important. Neither one is very powerful. They both use laptop-like APUs and 7790 or 7850 like GPUs. Arguing about which console has better technical specifications is like arguing about who is the tallest midget. The consoles seem to be similar enough in terms of power that they will both provide relatively similar graphics that most will find indistinguishable.

The more important issues will be which console gets the better exclusives and whether Kinnect 2.0 is able to replicate the success of the original Wii by introducing a (more functional) cool control scheme that will capture the popular imagination.

Quick summary/paraphrasing/my impression of what everyone said for those at work. Paragraphs are in order of their appearance:

Sony is really trying to make a difference on the types of games that players have access to. Only obstacle in terms of getting it on Sony’s platform is the developer themselves in his experience. Worked on most major platforms for the past 5-7 years. Easy to transport code from VITA to PS4. That being said, if they have Vita experience, they have PS4 experience.

A lot smoother to developer. Sony has been well prepared. Well documented dev kits in English. His analogy of working on a launch title is that working on a launch title is like filming a movie while the camera is still being built. Not that way in the PS4. Got a build of his game running on the platform in 5 weeks. Architecture plays a part in the fast development time, but a larger part is the development tools. Also mentioned that the development environment is very stable.

Easier to keep the user in the experience because the extra power allows for a smoother experience (over the previous generation). Sounds like there are a lot of improvements within the development environment itself and in reaching out to Sony that allow the developer to get things done faster.

Developed on high spec PCs. Game is still very much a stealth game. Previous game MGS games transitioned usually from a closed area then would open up, then close again. With the extra power, its possible to transition from one open area to the next. (Backing up a bit, the game sounds likes its designed in that you choose which missions you undertake (similar to Peace walker) then the mission starts in an open world fashion around that area. This is something he had envisioned previously, but couldn’t do because of the limitations of the hardware.)

More power. More lighting and characters. Really digs the recording feature in terms of competitive showing off (like on the PC) and sharing those “Did you see that?!!?” moments.

Much easier to get the hardware and documentation. Really likes the social elements. Because of the multiplayer aspect of the game, the social aspect works really well in its favor. The extra power allows to “abuse physics and destructible more”.

Over the last generation, it was “tremendously easier to develop for”. The witness was supposed to be a shorter development cycle game. Once it became obvious that it was going to take a long time, they looked to target next gen. Impression I got from Blow was that PS3 vs PS4 development was night and day.

You interviewed developers at a PR event, they had good things to say about the product they were being compensated to say good things about, and you posted those videos without any analysis whatsoever?

That's great journalism, Ars. Can't wait for the follow-up article, where you just repost an Xbox One press release.

That was last weeks platform comparisons who they basically re-printed what MS XB1 engineers were saying about their system.

Andrew usually writes great articles, but in that case, I think he was trying so hard to avoid offending people, that he might have offended the people looking for an in-depth hardware comparison. Anyway, thanks for putting this together, very insightful.

In fairness, the hardware differences aren't important. Neither one is very powerful. They both use laptop-like APUs and 7790 or 7850 like GPUs. Arguing about which console has better technical specifications is like arguing about who is the tallest midget. The consoles seem to be similar enough in terms of power that they will both provide relatively similar graphics that most will find indistinguishable. .

There is a decent gap between the XB1 equivalent HD 7770 vs a PS4 equivalent HD 7850.

Giant, open, seemless worlds - that's what I see being possible with more than 2G of RAM. Perhaps I'm wrong though - maybe the computational power still isn't there, even if you have plenty of RAM.

I don't mean to argue your point but look at a game like GTA V - those open; seamless worlds are more or less already available but are dependent more on the engine. I just don't see the RAM as being the limiting factor currently preventing this since the only thing in RAM would be your immediate surroundings and the size of the entire world really wouldn't come into play. More RAM would allow more detail and more surrounding area (less pop-ins).

I'm not dev so I could be completely off base but I don't put much value in 64bit as a selling point.

I'm having trouble getting a solid answer on this question: Are the next gen consoles being developed as pure 64-bit systems? I see both PS4 and XBO have CPUs which have the 64-bit instruction sets. . . but that doesn't necessarily mean the OS and games will be 64-bit. However, I also note that both systems have 8GB of RAM, which strongly suggests that they are 64-bit systems (I believe 32-bit OSes would be limited to 4G of RAM?)

I'm looking forward to a new generation of 64-bit games, hopefully. I don't know that I will buy either of these consoles - I've got a pretty decent gaming PC - but right now, games for the PC are basically constrained by the consoles. 32-bit consoles has meant no 64-bit games.

Why do I care about the bitness? Well, mostly, I think that games that can use more than about 2G of RAM will allow developers to think about creating bigger worlds/maps/zones/levels. Think about games like Skyrim - you enter a city, and you always have to load into a seperate zone just for the city, so the game can unload all the data for stuff outside the city. This in turn means that, for example, Morrowind had flight and jumping spells, which were removed from Oblivion and Skyrim, because those spells are not compatible with a city which has to be entered through a "door" in order to trigger the zone change logic.

Giant, open, seemless worlds - that's what I see being possible with more than 2G of RAM. Perhaps I'm wrong though - maybe the computational power still isn't there, even if you have plenty of RAM.

OS's are 64bit, as required for having 8GB of memory. Games however will be both. I am sure plenty of smaller indy games will be 32bit, as will games made for older and newer consoles.

BF4 on PC is 64bit only, and most likely is on PS4/XBone, as its RAM hungry. I am sure the same will go for most AAA games.

An OS doesn't have to be 64 bit to use 8Mb of memory. There are methods of getting around that such as paging, etc. but those schemes aren't great for gaming, though they do work for other types of apps

Andrew usually writes great articles, but in that case, I think he was trying so hard to avoid offending people, that he might have offended the people looking for an in-depth hardware comparison. Anyway, thanks for putting this together, very insightful.

In fairness, the hardware differences aren't important. Neither one is very powerful. They both use laptop-like APUs and 7790 or 7850 like GPUs. Arguing about which console has better technical specifications is like arguing about who is the tallest midget. The consoles seem to be similar enough in terms of power that they will both provide relatively similar graphics that most will find indistinguishable.

The more important issues will be which console gets the better exclusives and whether Kinnect 2.0 is able to replicate the success of the original Wii by introducing a (more functional) cool control scheme that will capture the popular imagination.

The hardware differences are significant, and important. What matters most is whether developers will take full advantage of it, or will write for the lowest common denominator.

Andrew usually writes great articles, but in that case, I think he was trying so hard to avoid offending people, that he might have offended the people looking for an in-depth hardware comparison. Anyway, thanks for putting this together, very insightful.

In fairness, the hardware differences aren't important. Neither one is very powerful. They both use laptop-like APUs and 7790 or 7850 like GPUs. Arguing about which console has better technical specifications is like arguing about who is the tallest midget. The consoles seem to be similar enough in terms of power that they will both provide relatively similar graphics that most will find indistinguishable. .

There is a decent gap between the XB1 equivalent HD 7770 vs a PS4 equivalent HD 7850.

Neither is top end and a $400 card would blow both of them out of the water but there is a significant difference.

The rumor is that the Xbox One uses something like the 7790, which was rumored to be developed specifically for that console. And the PS4 is rumored to use something like a 7850. Those comparisons might be misleading though because the architecture and how it interfaces with the systems is probably very unique. I would venture to guess that the consoles will perform better than their specifications suggest. But I agree with you about the $400 GPU. My GTX 770 should easily outperform the consoles. It's too bad that I don't give it the chance to use its potential since I play relatively non-demanding games like Starcraft 2 or (even worse) The Walking Dead! Maybe I should pick up Crysis 3 just so I can say my GPU purchase wasn't wasted.

Yeah, that's all very nice... But where's the feature "change game without having to get up of the sofa"? Do you imagine having to search for the DVD in order to run software on your computer? Do you actually have a DVD with software? And you can't download your footage on your PC. Only Youtube and Facebook.

Seriously, they can keep their 4K resolution and half of the storage and come up with those features. For gamers like me who don't care about 200 pixels more or less, those are the important points.

Btw, PS5 and XBOX TWO(?) will be coming with 16GB Memory-sticks to save games and the circle will be completed.